IWF In Your House 18: Badd Blood
Badd Blood: In Your House was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the International Wrestling Federation, that took place on October 5, 1997 at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri. On the afternoon of the event, Brian Pillman, who was scheduled to face Dude Love on the show, was found dead in his hotel room. The announcement was made to fans during the half-hour "pregame show" prior to the pay-per-view being broadcast. The event was also notable for the debut of The Undertaker's brother Kane, in IWF's inaugural "Hell in a Cell" match, as well as Vince Matteson's last pay-per-view appearance as the IWF's lead commentator. Background The main feud heading into Badd Blood involved The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. The rivalry dated back to August at SummerSlam, when Michaels served as guest referee for the IWF World Heavyweight Championship match between Undertaker and Bret Heart. Michaels tried to hit Heart with a chair but accidentally struck Undertaker instead, causing Heart to win the match and the title. After a previous match between Undertaker and Michaels to determine a number one contender for the IWF World Heavyweight Championship ended in a double Disqualification at Ground Zero: In Your House, a cage match called a Hell in a Cell match was scheduled for Badd Blood. Undertaker's former manager, Paul Bearer, had his faced burned by a fireball thrown by Undertaker at IWF In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker, Bearer compared the incident to a fire that burned down the funeral home that killed The Undertaker's parents and possibly his younger half-brother for which he blamed The Undertaker but Undertaker denied it. Bearer claimed to have proof in the form of Undertaker's half brother Kane, who was alive after all. Bearer revealed that he had raised Kane after the fire and that Kane now was coming to the IWF to challenge Undertaker. On the afternoon of the event, Brian Pillman, who was scheduled to face Dude Love on the show, was found dead in his hotel room. The announcement was made to fans during the half-hour "pregame show" prior to the pay-per-view being broadcast. Event A Legends Ceremony was held during the event to honor some legends of St. Louis Wrestling Club. It was hosted by Jim Ross and honored wrestlers, including Harley Race, Jack Brisco, Dory Funk, Jr., Gene Kiniski, Terry Funk, Lou Thesz, and promoter Sam Muchnick. Also, at the top of the show, as the Nation of Domination was preparing for their match, Vince Matteson announced, as it had been already announced on the Free For All show directly preceding Badd Blood, that Brian Pillman had died earlier that day (October 5, 1997). This was the last pay-per-view event that Matteson called in his position as the IWF's chief broadcaster, as he left the broadcast team altogether following the events of the next month and started his career as an on-screen professional wrestler using a gimmick known by the ring name Mr. Matteson, based on his real life persona. The event started with the Nation of Domination taking on The Legion of Doom in what was supposed to be a six-man tag team match. However, as noted above, Ken Shamrock (who was supposed to be Hawk & Animal's partner) was out due to injury. Faarooq interfered on behalf of his Nation teammates, which enabled Kama Mustafa to kick Hawk in the back of the head and Rocky Maivia to execute the Rock Bottom for the pin. Due to Pillman's death, his match with Dude Love was canceled and two matches had to be added to the card at the last minute to fill out the time. The first of those was a midget wrestling tag team match pitting Max Mini and Nova against Tarantula and Mosaic; Max Mini and Nova emerged victorious when Mini pinned Tarantula despite a kickout at 2. The Headbangers then defended their IWF Tag Team Championships against The Godwinns. Late in the match, Phineas caught Mosh attempting the Mosh Pit and powerbombed him for the pin while Uncle Cletus held Thrasher to prevent him from making the save. After the contest was over the new champions assaulted the old champions, only stopping when threatened with losing the belts. The next match saw the finals of the Intercontinental Championship Tournament, where Owen Heart faced Faarooq for the belt that Stone Cold Steve Austin was forced to vacate due to an injury he suffered at SummerSlam in August. Austin was at ringside for the contest, as he was to present the belt to the winner. Austin also served as guest timekeeper and guest commentator, and factored in the outcome as he hit Faarooq with the belt to knock him out while Commissioner Slaughter, who was also at ringside to prevent any incidents, was distracted. Heart then pinned Faarooq to win the intercontinental title. The second of two matches necessitated by the cancellation of Pillman's match was an eight man tag team contest pitting the Disciples of Apocalypse against Los Boricuas. DOA won the match after Crush pinned Miguel Pérez Jr. following a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. IWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Heart and The British Bulldog took on Vader and The Patriot in a tag-team match that followed the eight man tag. Originally scheduled to be a capture-the-flag match, where the object was to go to the opponent's corner and grab their country's flag (Canada's or America's) to win, this was changed to allow for pinfalls and submissions due to all four competitors entering the match with injuries. The change enabled Heart to roll-up The Patriot and pin him for the victory. After the match both members of the American team assaulted their opponents. The match is notable for having two fans interfere by attempting to climb into the ring. The main event of the evening saw European Champion Shawn Michaels face off against The Undertaker in the first ever Hell in a Cell match, with the winner to face Heart for his championship at Survivor Series in November. Michaels was initially accompanied to the ring by Triple K, Chyna, and Rick Rude, his cohorts in D-Generation X, but after the cage was locked all three of Michaels' allies were forced to leave the ring. Undertaker attacked Michaels early and often, and his opponent was unable to gain offense early in the match. Approximately halfway through the match, a cameraman was (kayfabe) injured, forcing the cell door to unlock. Michaels and Undertaker fought outside of the cell; Michaels was then thrown face-first into the cage, causing him to begin bleeding profusely. The two climbed to the top of the cell and fought, ending with Michaels hanging from the side of the cell while Undertaker stomped on his hands, causing Michaels to fall through the Spanish broadcast table. The two then returned to the inside of the cell, where the door was once again locked. Late in the match, Undertaker hit Michaels with a chair. As Michaels lay unconscious, Undertaker gestured but as he was doing this, all of the lights in the arena went out and organ music began to play. Within seconds, red light filled the arena and Paul Bearer walked to the ring with the debuting Kane. Kane proceeded to rip the door of the cell off its hinges, assault referee Earl Hebner, and enter the ring. He then turned the lights in the arena back on with his soon-to-be trademark gesture of summoning fire from the corners, and executed the Tombstone Piledriver on the Undertaker before exiting the cell. Michaels then crawled over to the Undertaker while referee Earl Hebner, who had also been taken out, slowly crawled back into the ring. Michaels pinned Undertaker for the victory. Results ; ; *The Nation of Domination (Rocky Maivia, Kama Mustafa and D'Lo Brown) defeated The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) in a Three-on-two handicap match (12:16) *Max Mini and Nova defeated Tarantula and Mosaic (6:44) *The Godwinns (Henry and Phineas) (with Uncle Cletus) defeated The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) © to win the IWF Tag Team Championship (12:18) *Legends Ceremony hosted by Jim Ross; honoring some legends of St. Louis wrestling, including Harley Race, Jack Brisco, Dory Funk, Jr., Gene Kiniski, Terry Funk, Lou Thesz, and promoter Sam Muchnick. *Owen Heart defeated Faarooq to win the vacant IWF Intercontinental Championship (5:51) *Disciples of Apocalypse (Crush, Chainz, 8-Ball and Skull) Los Boricuas (Savio Vega, Jesús Castillo, Jose Estrada, Jr. and Miguel Perez) (8:04) *Bret Heart and The British Bulldog defeated Vader and The Patriot in a Flag match (25:07) *Shawn Michaels defeated The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match (29:57) IWF Intercontinental Championship tournament The tournament to determine the new IWF Intercontinental Champion was held between September 8 and October 5, 1997, with the finals occurring on October 5 at the pay-per-view. The tournament brackets were: Notes: 1 Aftermath Reception The main event was given a 5-star match rating by Dave Meltzer, which would be the last IWF/WWE match to receive the honor until the Dustin Simpson vs CM Punk match at the 2011 Money in the Bank event. The pay-per-view received a 0.60 buyrate, equivalent to approximately 240,000 buys. Other on-screen talent See also *List of IWE pay-per-view events *IWE Event History *In Your House DVD release External links